Day 21 - Hole

Being that I'll be back in Seattle today, I thought it fitting to post something from the place I now call home. Now, I know, Hole isn't from Seattle. But the song most definitely is.

Now Hole's a solid band in their own right. Think what you will of Courtney Love, the band had talent. In fact, I changed my mind. I wasn't going to add a Hole song to this post, but I'm going to now, at the end, cause they deserve it.

Back to my original thought though. Back in 1995, less than a year after Kurt Cobain died, Hole appeared on MTV's Unplugged. They performed a song that sent chills up my spine, a cover of the then-unreleased "You Know You're Right" (as "You've Got No Right"), written by Love's late husband. It's like you can hear all of that pain she felt, spilling out of her lungs as she sings. I'll take this version any day over the original that wasn't released until over seven years later.

Day 20 - Wesley Willis

I couldn't do Chicago time without including Wesley Willis. If you don't know who he is, go ahead and read the Wikipedia article. I'll wait. Ok good.

You know, I really don't know what to say about Wesley Willis. A lot of people think he's just funny (cause, well, he is), but I dunno... I've always felt like there was actually more to him than that. He always seemed like a genuinely good guy, just trying to get through life and deal with his demons (literally). He was actually quite a good artist too.

I actually saw him live back in 2001?-ish. He was so happy to see his fans, was really glad to be there, and put on a great show. He even headbutted my friend Jimmy. (Wesley Willis butted heads as a greeting. In a nice way. That's why he has the lump on his forehead. For real.) I was too much of a wuss to go up and get a headbutt myself. I do wish I had done it now though.

HOLY CRAP. It occurred to me that I might still have picture of my friend getting headbutted, and I DO!

That is freaking awesome.

I leave you with two of his finest tunes, Rock N Roll McDonalds and Cut the Mullet.

Update: Look where I went while I was in Chicago! ROCK N ROLL MCDONALDS!

Thus concludes Chicago Time. There's no better way to end it than with these words of wisdom from the man himself: Rock over London, rock on Chicago!

 

Day 19 - Stabbing Westward

CHICAGO DAY FOUR. Ahh, another relic of the 90s. I remember scraping and pooling together change with one of my friends so we could walk over to the only nearby music store and buy Stabbing Westward's first commercially successful album, Wither, Blister, Burn, & Peel (1996). Memories. They really did have some other good stuff though.

For some random reason, I thought of them earlier this week and listened for a while. I was thinking about throwing them up for a post anyway, and then I find out they're actually from Chicago! Perfect. I'm sure you've all heard the song below, but whatever. Not EVERYTHING I like is absurdly obscure. :P

Day 18 - Tortoise

Whew! Ok, let's slow things down a bit. Chicago Time continues! I used to listen to Tortoise's jams back in college. It's really pretty hard to describe their sound, so I'll let the music speak for itself. Cause I still have two more days to go.

Day 17 - Aleks and the Drummer

I spent an entire month listening to the same five songs from Aleks and the Drummer's (myspace link!) 2008 EP, May a Lightning Bolt Caress You. Now, they might not be for everyone. But have you ever wondered what it would sound like if Tori Amos was from Poland, played an organ, and had a drummer who had just done about a kilo of cocane? Then you're in luck! Wonder no more!

Seriously though, wow. Sadly, all they really have is the one EP, though Aleks has been working on new material under the name Magic Key for a while. And guess who's drumming for her? :D It's supposed to have a different sound, which is a bit of a shame, but I'm still really looking forward to where they go from here.

They're still really a Chicago-only band, and could really use some fan support. I emailed them to try to find out where I could buy the EP back in 2008, and Aleks herself emailed me back and was super nice and helpful! Maybe if you're ridiculously, absurdly lucky, Easy Street in West Seattle will still have one of the 10 (well, 9... you can't have mine) copies that existed in all of Seattle back then. Or if not, email Aleks and she'll probably try to get you set up. And if you're in Chicago, go show your support at a gig!

So enjoy the opening track of the EP, performed live. The audio's crap, but not TOO bad. Make sure you're watching the drummer at 3:05. Dude is my FREAKING HERO.

Day 16 - Smashing Pumpkins

ScootTunes rises again! So, I had this whole thing planned out. I even stayed up way too late one night doing eight posts so I wouldn't fall behind. And then I go to Chicago, the city where cell phone data connections go to die. I tried to post Day 16, and what happens? The whole thing disappears, leaving me with blank nothingness.

Anyway, despite the fact that I've already returned from Chicago (and have been recovering for a few days now), I'm still going to post all of my Chicago-spawned bands because that's what was meant to happen. I'll be doing two a day until I'm current, so do try to keep up!

Anyone who knows me at all expected the Smashing Pumpkins to come sometime soon, and what better way to kick off five awesome days of Chicago goodness? I don't think there's really too much I need to say about the Pumpkins, as I'm sure you already either love or hate them. But I love them, so here they are.

I've selected a less-well-known song of theirs that's been one of my favorites for a long time. It's off the (admittedly, not amazingly good overall) second disc of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It did have some great songs though, and this is one of them. Given the fact that no studio versions of it seem to exist on YouTube, here's a great live version, recorded when the band was still in one piece.